Back brush



A. M. VOLPE Sept. 29, 1959 BACK BRUSH Filed Nov. 13. 1956 l //4`... u WMM/gx United States Patent BACK BRUSH Anthony M. Volpe, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application November 13, 1956, Serial No. 621,762

Z Claims. (Cl. 15160) The present invention relates to back brushes that are commonly employed by bathers for the purpose of scrubbing their backs and is concerned primarily with such a brush of novel construction and facilitates the scrubbing operation.

At the present time a person taking a bath experiences considerable difficulty in scrubbing his or her back and this inconvenience is attributable directly to the character of back brushes which are now available. The now known back brushes generally include but a single handle which has been found to be inadequate to perform the desired operation over the required areas and at the same time apply the brush with sufficient pressure to achieve the desired scrubbing effects.

This particular problem has received the attention of those attempting to improve the situation and certain types of back brushes including two handles or operating members have been proposed. However, the structure of these known devices is of such a nature as not to meet the requirements of the back scrubbing operation.

With the foregoing conditions in mind, the present invention has in View, as its foremost objective, the provision of a back brush which includes a wire frame which carries the bristles and to the opposite ends of which are secured two handle elements. Each of the handle elements carries at its free end a grip that is adapted to be grasped by the hand of a user. An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that these handle elements are of different lengths which enables the user to properly apply scrubbing pressure. A

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a back brush of the character aforesaid, handle elements which are resilient and flexible to a required degree and yet suiciently rigid to transmit the pressure and forces from the hand grips to the brush frame. Each of these handle elements consists essentially in a coil spring which has its opposite ends anchored to one end of the brush frame and a hand grip respectively with the spring being encased in a rubber tube or one of a similar material.

Various other more detailed objects and advantages of the invention such as arise in connection with carrying out the above noted ideas in a practicable embodiment will in part become apparent and in part be hereinafter stated as the description of the invention proceeds.

The invention therefore comprises a two handed back brush consisting essentially of a brush frame carrying bristles and to the opposite ends of which are secured two handles of different lengths with each handle having a hand grip at its free end. Each of the handles comprises a coil `spring encased in a rubber tube.

For a full and more complete understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following description and accompanying drawing wherein:

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Figure 1 is a top plan view of a back brush designed in accordance with the precepts of this invention.

Figure 2 is a planned View taken on an enlarged scale with the bristles omitted and depicting the manner in which the handles are secured to the brush frame, with the handles being shown in section; and

Figure 3 is a detail taken on an enlarged scale of one end of one of the handles with the latter being shown in section.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts and iirst more particularly to Figure l, the back brush of this invention is shown as comprising a brush element which is referred to in its entirety by the reference character B. The brush element B may take any of several forms, although the invention has particularly in mind the use of a wire frame 10 which carries bristles 11 in accordance with well known practices in the field of brushes. 'Ilhe wire frame 10 is formed with hooks 13 and 14 on its opposite ends. A short handle element designated H is secured to the hook 13 while a longer handle element H is attached to` the hook 14. Except for their differences in lengths the handles H and H are substantial duplicates and it is therefore believed that a detailed description of one such handle element is suflicient for the purpose of this specification.

A small round block of wood or comparable material is shown at 15 as being carried by the wire frame 10 and held assembled thereon by the hook 14. A hand grip 16 of wood or any other appropriate material is formed with a reduced extension at 17 and this extension 17 corresponds to the block 15 as will be later explained. A hook 18 is secured to the lextension 17 in a well known manner.

A coil spring 19 has one end secured to the hook 14 and its opposite end to the hook 18. This coil spring 19 is preferably closely wound. That is, the adjacent coils abut one another. A tubular casing 20 of rubber or comparable material encases the spring 19 and has one end fitted over the block 17. Obviously, the ends of the rubber tube may be distorted to effect these connections. Clamping rings 12 are placed labout the end portions of the tube 20 where they iit over the hook 15 and extension 17 The coil spring 19 together with the tubular casings Z0 provide handle elements which are resilient and flexible and yet are sufficiently strong and rigid to properly transmit forces from the hand grip 1-6 to the brush B. Thus, when the brush is being used the bather may use both hands to grip both of the hand grips 16 and apply suicient force to cause the brush B to move over desired areas of `the back under a proper degree of pressure.

While a preferred specific embodiment is hereinbefore set forth, it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not to be limited to the exact materials, constructions and designs illustra-ted and described because various modifications of these details may be provided in putting the invention into practice within the purview of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a back brush, a bristle-carrying wire frame of generally oval shape with hooks on the opposite ends thereof, a handle element at each end of said frame and including a coil spring having one end anchored to the hook at that end of the frame, and a hand grip at the free end of each of said handle elements, with the other end of each spring being anchored to one of said hand grips.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gibbons Jan. 26, 1904 Ricks etal Sept. 16, 1916 Bretsnyder June 8, 1926 Theodoropulos Dec. 31, 1929 Ellinger May 11, 1943 

